(OT) Chemical used to make flame during WW2 by adding to water

Off topic, but it has to so with science....

When I was young, my father had a container of some sort of powder, which was supposed to be added to water, and then it formed a gas that burned as a sort of flashlight, used during World War 2.

That had me fascinated, and my father told me not to touch it. Of course that just made me want to play with it even more. I remember putting about a teaspoon of it into a pill bottle, taking it out into the woods and dumping it into a small puddle of water, expecting a huge explosion as I ran away from it. Absolutely NOTHING happened...... (very disappointing).

For some reason, I recalled this not long ago, and I'd like to read up on the stuff on Wikipedia or something. But I can not remember the name of it. The word "carbide" comes to mind, but that is not it, thats what they use on saw blades.

Does anyone know the name of this stuff?

Reply to
tubeguy
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Calcium carbide if I remember correctly, for explosions one put some water in a plastic bottle added some of the carbide and quickly screwed on the top followed by a rapid retreat to a safe distance !! Used in earlier days in bicycle and motor cycle headlights etc.

Reply to
Rheilly Phoull

Yes - it generates acetylene gas.

Reply to
Clifford Heath

Calcium carbide. I have a vintage "Big Bang" cannon. a July 4th toy, that uses it.

Reply to
rabit

And acetylene gas is thermodynamically unstable.

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"Consequently, acetylene, if initiated by intense heat or a shockwave, can decompose explosively if the absolute pressure of the gas exceeds about 200 kilopascals (29 psi)."

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

As a schoolkid I went to a Royal Institution lecture (yes, in /that/ lecture theatre), where there were demos of detonating stoichiometric mixtures of various gases at RTP.

That culminated in acetylene plus oxygen, and was most impressive. The container (a glass milk bottle) was turned to dust, and more than one of the protective blast reduction layers around that suffered significant damage.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Calcium Carbide:

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Used to be used for vehicle lighting a century ago give or take.

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Reply to
Tim Watts

I had one too. And they still make the cannons, Big Bang Cannons. We would buy the Carbide from the camping store, and crush the rocks into a powder.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Calcium carbide was widely used in the mines in SE Oklahoma, and probably everyplace else where there was mining. The miners wore hats with a place to clip the carbide light on the front. The light came in 2 pieces. The bottom was filled with carbide and the top with water. An adjustable valve allowed the water to drip on the carbide and produce acetylene. This was burned in front of a reflector. See:

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We always had one. My father was a miner when he met my mother and we lived in a mining area.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Gill

My father had one. I thought it was magic. He used it for night hunting back in the '40s in Louisiana. He took me with him and I loved it. It was before hunting licenses were required.

Reply to
John S

I still have one - along with a couple of safer Davy miners lamps.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

In the East of the Netherlands it is still a tradition to use a carbide in a milk churn as a cannon on Newyears eve.

Reply to
Wim Ton

I have a canister from WWII that has a white rock like substance. When mixed with water it out gases Hydrogen, It was used to fill large balloons. My boss singed his eyebrows when we filled a garbage bag with hydrogen and lit it. It had a low frequency boom. Mikek

Reply to
amdx

Calcium Carbide.

Reply to
krw

Not sure if you were responding to me, but I think the chemical in the WWII canister is Calcium Hydride. It reacts with water and releases Hydrogen.

Mikek

Reply to
amdx

That would be fun with torch tanks.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

That's why it's dissolved in acetone rather than simply compressed.

Jeroen Belleman

Reply to
Jeroen Belleman

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